Tuesday, July 22, 2008

kara’okE, yO!


kara'okE, yO!
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I love kara'oke!

Yo! Kara'oke! Wanted to share with you all what I have been through for the last 2 weeks!. The "S-H-O-R-T" assignment back in Penang Island is finally over! And in the final days of staying over there, my colleagues suggested going to a nearby karaoke in the downtown area. It's a BoX painted with RED, so you should be able to guess which one I am referring to, right? Initially, I wanted to turn down their offer, coz that day was damn tiring after a whole day work. But since my colleagues are so persuasive, and thinking that I may never get see them after returning back to KL, I agreed to joined them finally.

So, once we reached there, we were greeted by the nice foods (coz we pay them NICE also) and we were seated in a pretty compact room with the karao'ke set in front. My colleagues and I started to queue for the buffet dinner and shortly after our meal, they began...and I still haven't finished with the ice cream. So, I just sit aside near the speaker at the end of a corner and hear them sing.

Since the singing of my first collegue is not that "acceptable" to the ears, I try to "divert" my attention to the surroundings. Then I see the karaoke set. 1st question that came to my mind was, "Who the hell in this world invented this?" He must be a damn genius! The karao'ke set seems to be quite simple, one microphone which amplifies the voice signals over the amplifier, which then channeled to the speakers. And of course there is this TV set with synchronized lyrics, and a computer with pre-installed software with a remote control. It's such a simple idea, yet no one has thought about it previously.

the INVENTION



My google searches found that the person responsible for this awesome invention is actually a Japanese guy by the name of Daisuke Inoue in the early 1980s. And the sad thing is, this so-hai never bothered to get his invention patented, so businessmen just used his idea and earn big buck$$$, with NO royalty fees paid to him! Sad...The world is just a unfair right? But though he is a sohai, deep in my heart I still salute this person 100% coz he has brought a lot of happiness and entertainment to the world through his invention. (BTW,so-hai is a Canto word, and it's quite vulgar, but i still prefer to use it...hehe...coz no other word can best describe it, so apologies from me if it offended you...)

the so-hai



So, half an hour has passed, I was forced to sing a song for them. I told them, you'll regret later. So I just simply choose a song, and at that time I choose an oldie, Hotel California by The Eagles. It is good to hear the original version, but not my version. Normally, I don't go to kara'oke for a reason. As far as I could recall, I think should be less than 10 times. So, now you know why i rejected their offer initially? The key are so hard to reach for me, and my voice range is just too narrow. If you wanna compare, this chart below shows where I stand. Among all, I am the WORST!

Voice Range Chart Comparison



If there is a better word to describe my singing, it would be "Pulling the Cow up the Tree" a.k.a 拉牛上树 in Chinese. Try to imagine the MOOOing sound of the cow! In the end, that is the only song I sang. By the way, I found out that most of the songs my colleagues sang are more or less from the standard few list of singers, mostly HK Pop and MandoPop songs. The one I could remember was Gary Chaw, Leo Ku, Guang Liang, Eason Chan, and Beyond. Talking of Beyond, one of my colleagues (Friend no. 1) could sing "Boundless Oceans Vast Skies" a.k.a. 海闊天空 [4th song on disc 1 for those who don't know] so well that he sounds nearly perfect. All of us in the room just went quiet and listen to him singing...I consider myself lucky to have him with us that night. So far, he is the best I came across.

Pulling the Cow up the Tree" a.k.a 拉牛上树 [MooOOOOO!...]



The way I see it, kara'oke is not just for us to show off your great singing skills, but somehow it has got more than that. It serves a place where you get to 'shout away' all your worries, pressure, and troubles, well, at least for a while. Then, when you're happy of sad, there is always a gang of buddies around to share it.

Shout off all your PRESSURES!



And one great thing about kara'oke is, it's role of search of new talent, and a training ground for those who wanna make singing their career. Ask any contestant of the Idol series, One Million Star or China Supergirl, I can be sure that they are super fans of 'kara'oke. At least I know Joey Yung, the current HK Singing Queen, is one of the super-patron of kara'oke during her schooling years.

Have any idea who she is?



So, kara'oke lovers out there, just dream BIG, and you may stand a chance of becoming someone BIG, but in any case you've got the singing talent like MINE, then I suggest you just...errhh...sit aside and enjoy the singing instead...

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Make good use of your TIME


Make good use of your TIME
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make goog use of time


Two week before this, I have been assigned by the company I am working to this very "S-H-O-R-T" assignment in Penang island, a very beautiful island here in Malaysia. Initially, I was promised by my direct boss which sounds like "It's gotta be ONLY 2 weeks job! Confirm! No more than that." (I rejected in the first place coz the pay there is even less than peanuts. And being away from home unnecessarily is just a no-no for me). And by now the assignment has already reached the span of nearly a month...and that man who say "Confirm 2 weeks!" is nowhere to be seen. T.N.S.!

Being so lonely and bored to death, I decided to go and check one of my best buddy university mate, who coincidentally is also living in Penang. Haven't seen him for years but we do keep in touch over the phone and MSN. So we have a long chat that night about the goods and bads we went through after 4 years graduating. And in the middle of the conversation, he suddenly asked me this..."Sam, can you roughly estimate how many days were there in your life?"

So, I began to calculate in my mind...365 days/year x 70 years assuming the rate of a normal person. Halfway through the calculation, he stopped me. "Stop it. No need calculation. "You just have 3 days in your life. YESTERDAY, TODAY and TOMORROW". Then only, I know what he meant. "Yesterday is past tense, you can't chase it back. All you have is TODAY. And TOMORROW may never exist.

Past tense, Present tense, and Future tense



That moment on, I feel that I really need to cherish TIME more. All the while I have been wasting a lot of time, watching stupid TV programmes, surfing the internet aimlessly, and sleeping more than needed, procrastinate everything that is possible...the list goes on and on. Conclusion - I have very very bad time management. And I want to change this. I don't wanna regret not using my time to the fullest when I died. No! No! No!

24 hours only...



Have you ever heard about this phrase? "Everybody has the same 24 hours a day. Nobody gets more or less". Bill Gates don't have any hours more than you or me, but he managed to fully utilize his time to become what he is today. And I remember Andy Lau (HK Superstar) have spoken in an interview that he sleep roughly 5 to 6 hours only daily. When asked why, he replied "You can have plenty of time to sleep after you have died." At the time I heard this, I just had a good laugh. Now I truly know the true meaning.

Take Andy Lau's advice. But don't overdo it.



Now I am going to make a promise to myself to fully utilize every moment that I have. Mark my words! By he end of this Christmas, I am gonna write a post to check on myself, whether or not I do what I say. Hahaha!

My promise to myself...




You have got one whole day to plan and use your time...




Bill gates, you and ME!